Ahoy, matey! How many fish will you catch today? This fun fishing activity requires little setup and can easily be adapted to include several children. It also builds kids’ hand-eye coordination as they use the pole to pick up fish. So whether you’re on the water this summer or not, spend some time fishing at your “local” watering hole.

What You’ll Need

What to Do

Put the end of the string between the sticky sides of two self-adhesive magnets.

Bend and twist the chenille stems to make fish.

Cut the blue paper or felt to make a pond.

Release the fish into the pond, and then go fishing!

* possible choking hazard; close supervison a must

Extend the Fun

Younger kids: Help your child count how many fish she caught. Put them in one long line so you can count them easily. Then ask her to group the fish by color. How many of each color fish are there? Together, put each group of fish in a line, with one color next to the other, to make a simple bar graph. Compare the number of fish in each color.

Older kids: The fishing pole was able to pick up fish because it had a magnet on the end and the fish are partly made of metal wire. How many fish can you pick up at once? How could you change the fishing pole to make it pick up more fish? Try your idea to see how it works.